


Partners

by nan00k



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Spoilers, lolix if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 16:51:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7515835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nan00k/pseuds/nan00k
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite what Siris might say of him, Felix does sometimes appreciate his ideas. They're in this together for the long haul--apparently.</p>
<p>(major spoilers for season 14, episode 11, "Consequences")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partners

**Author's Note:**

> This was probably the fastest one shot I've ever put together, so pardon any mistakes. I'm here for the mercs, guys. This was such a great episode.

“We’re partners.”

That sort of explains it all. Isaac is half delirious with pain from the waist down, he’s pretty sure his suit is ruined from the debris, blood and entry wound, but in that cloud of adrenaline and endorphins, he decides that Siris is right.

“Partners,” he agrees.

It’s the only thing that makes sense after a night like that. In the middle of fighting for his life and the lives of his companions, Isaac didn’t have the time to think about why. Fighting for his own life made enough sense on its own, but Sam? Wu? They were war buddies, sure. They saw some shit and survived. Wu had almost reenlisted, when the war ended and they pushed everyone out who had served on the front lines, but his wife had shown him a picture of their two year old and he decided to leave along with the rest of their squad, back to a normal life.

Except it wasn’t enough. Isaac and Sam decided to pool their pension into a shitty apartment on Salus, a temporary thing, until they both realized at the same time that the war was over, but the economy was shit. There was money to be found in muscle work, naturally, which Isaac only took as necessity.

Sam, on the other hand, seemed to thrive in it. Working as a bouncer was hardly the same as military or dodging aliens, but he thrived taking orders. It was more of the same he was used to for nearly seven years. Isaac hated it, because of those same reasons, because he thought getting out of the military meant he would never have to do anything he didn’t want to do again.

But then, somehow, Wu found them. Serendipity, he said, over drinks, overly cheerful. He had an idea to make some real cash with their skills–skills he had hoped hadn’t waned in the last year of being out. Sam was intrigued. Isaac only perked up at the mention of decent cash flow. Wu had just discovered an office job wasn’t going to support a family like bounty hunting could. It fit all their needs.

And it worked, flawlessly, for over a year, until now. Until Lozano. Until Wu almost abandoned them, they nearly lost their lives, or worse.

But they haven’t died. Wu came back. Lozano is dead. They win.

In the early, somewhat irritating, morning light, Issac is a combination of exhausted, thrilled, and eagerness to do it all over again.

“Wonder how much we can get with this?” he asks, tapping the hummer-limo. It wouldn’t be worth as much as the ransom would have been, but it’s better than being dead and he just wants to get his hands on some painkillers and a shower.

Locus spares him an impatient look, but apparently agrees. Wu sighs and is just grateful to get to go home to his wife and children. They take it and mark it a victory.

They’re in this together. For better or for worse.

**0000**

He gets used to Felix as the only name he answers to, mainly because the only two people he really speaks with daily are the two people who demand he uses it. Chicks in bars seem to dig it. Siris eventually tells him that it fits him. Locus only becomes annoyed that Felix starts to flaunt his name, his luck.

They stick to bounty hunting, for awhile. Lozano’s death leaves the city in a state of imbalance with other crime lords, so there’s plenty of pickings out of all the bounties.

But there’s something else that dangles in front of them. It’s something new and wild and Felix can’t help but feel a tingle of excitement over the possibility.

Taking out Lozano is seen as a calling card by some of the crime families on Salus. They get called on to do work outside of the usual channels that Siris uses for bount work. Merc work pays better. It’s also far more dangerous. Felix decides that’s also a perk.

At first, Siris is firm and they turn down the offers. He’s haunted by what happened with Lozano, Felix realizes, or perhaps just with Lozano, Jr. Killing people isn’t like killing aliens, Siris says, all too often, like they need to be fucking reminded.

But Siris needs money, Felix wants money, and Locus is getting bored with bounty hunting. They all feel like turning in crooks to cops doesn’t get anywhere–either with actual crime in the city or with their careers. Felix pushes. Locus eventually joins his side. Siris caves.

If they’re good at bounty work, they’re suddenly even better as mercenaries. There are fewer rules and that is a jolt of adrenaline right at the start. Locus is content having only the rules of the clients to follow. Siris is stricter, but Felix can see him smiling sometimes, when the fight is good or the outcome is what they needed. He’s a junkie with danger, like the rest of them, because that’s what war has done to them. Felix is hardly bitter.

He’s hardly disappointed either when he sees the money rolling in. Clients with bigger paychecks than the city bankrollers means bigger sums. That’s what really sells to Siris, who’s almost paid off his house and medical bills for his son.

And that thrill. Oh, it’s intoxicating. He’s never really had the chance to practice with his knives, but he’s getting better every day. Locus even seems happy.

“I could totally make even more of a cut if I did this solo,” Felix says as they cool down at his and Locus’ apartment, a big job successfully and easily completed just hours ago. He motions in the air, hand wrapped around a can of beer. “Felix, mercenary. Make up some business holos and everything.”

Siris snorted into his can. “Yeah, as if you carry the team.”

“You said it, not me,” Felix shot back.

“You want to go solo?”

The question catches him off guard for a moment. He looks at Siris, who’s eyebrow is raised expectantly. He can feel Locus’ more intense gaze boring into his back. Part of him wants to say yes out of spite.

The beer is cold in his hand and his bank account is about to be fuller than it’s ever been. He can’t say it’s been bad.

“Nah,” he finally says, taking a sip. “Locus carries most of the heavier equipment, so that’s a perk. Why lose that kind of manpower?”

Locus reaches over and smacks the beer out of his hand. Felix fumbles and catches it, laughing.

He has all the time in the world to branch out on his own. For now, this works.

**0000**

Siris trusts people. That’s why he dies with his back turned to his killer.

Russian mobsters are nasty in that sector. It’s the first time they leave Salus to go on a mission. Siris has to convince his wife to let him go, on an exoplanetary business trip that he promises won’t take long. They rent a shuttle for the first time. It’s expensive, but the investment is worth the payoff.

Darien Mikhailov is in deep with drug trade and weapons trades and he wants to get rid of a rival trying to rob his smuggling routes. Felix, Locus and Siris go in, teach the rival gang a lesson in blood, and get out. It goes flawlessly.

It should have been the clearest sign of danger when they agree to make the final exchange of pay on Mikhailov’s shuttle. Felix is too busy eyeballing the two bodyguards while Mikhailov sneers his way through trying to lower what he owes and Siris patiently gets their credits in hand.

It’s a standard double cross, Felix realizes. Client pays half for their services upfront, they complete the job, he kills them before he has to pay the rest. Getting rid of witnesses, too. Mikhailov must have thought himself a genius.

As soon as Siris’ body starts to crumple, Felix has his gun raised at Mikhailov, but Locus is already pulling the trigger on his. Mikhailov goes down hard, slamming into the wall. His two bodyguards go for their own weapons, but it’s a lost cause. Locus keeps firing until the chamber is empty and the room goes silent.

Felix drops next to Siris’ head, where a pool of blood has already formed under his neck and face. It’s a clean shot, through the heart. He’s already dead.

He doesn’t say anything when he looks up at Locus, who is staring at Mikhailov’s body and his men’s bodies lay.

“We have to tell Megan,” Felix says, as the first thing he can think of.

Locus says nothing.

“I can’t call her,” Felix says.

Locus turns his head and looks at him. He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t have to. Felix can only keep his gaze for a few seconds before he stands up and walks away.

They put an SOS out on all frequencies, so someone will find the body on the rental. They take Mikhailov’s ship and go.

They never go back to Salus.

**0000**

Military class armor is easy to come by on the black market. Their names gross along with their inventory of weapons. They’re walking lethal legends by the time they got an encrypted transmission from someone named Control, about a little forgotten rock of a planet somewhere in the galactic backwaters.

“Alien artifact acquisition?” Felix repeated. He glanced to Locus, who seems disinterested, but Felix knows he’s listening. “Sounds good to me.”

“Ah,” the voice on the other end of the line says, “but there is a complication.”

“Complication,” Locus repeats.

“One that I’ve been told will matter little to men of your…caliber,” the voice admits.

“What is it?”

“The planet is inhabited.”

Felix waits in that pause that follows. He glances at Locus, who’s expression hasn’t changed.

“And?” Locus prompts.

“It would be best if it weren’t,” the voice says.

Locus dithers on it. He doesn’t like jobs this messy. Felix doesn’t like it either, because this kind of notoriety gave them more jobs, but also more press, if rumors leaked about their involvement.

But that paycheck is written in gold, a promise made from diamonds, and Felix can’t resist.

Locus doesn’t refuse him. He hardly ever does anymore. Maybe, in his mind, it’s easier that way.

They take it.

**0000**

“Locus, what are you doing? You’re supposed to kill them!”

“No.”

Somewhere, maybe Wu is watching them and swearing, like he always did, Felix thinks.

“Locus, we’re partners,” he says, grasping at what he’s seeing, what he remembers. “Survivors.”

It’s weird, seeing Locus from that angle.

It’s weird, for a lot of reasons.

“I’m not doing this because someone told me to. I’m doing this for me,” Locus tells him.

Felix almosts laughs. That’s the first time he hears about it.

He doesn’t laugh.

He doesn’t feel much of anything, to be perfectly honest.

The sun’s not rising this time.

**Author's Note:**

> A/Ns:  
> -I made up the planet they were on. I don't think it was earth but maybe it was.  
> -There's no telling if/how Siris would actually die in the series, so this is likely 100% AU. Maybe if we're lucky he'll show up in season 15 and be like "Locus what the fuck"  
> -I'm still bitter over the ending of season 13, if you couldn't tell. Get that "oh Felix was just manipulating Locus this entire time" out of my face.


End file.
